Fun day at Bennett / something old is new to me

[BilletHead]

21 minutes ago, tjm said:

The prices you're quoting makes me want to go shopping where you do.

            I am beginning to train my eyes for this type of stuff as I scan looking for vintage cast iron and the stuff Pat is collecting.  I will continue to look and if I find more, I will run it by you also.

[tjm]

Since I'm far from being an expert, if you are going to become interested in old fiberglass, I'll toss out some names of the better manufacturers, as far as I can recall without looking stuff up.

Companies that started  building fiberglass rods at almost the same time as Shakespeare,  immediately after the war, was NARMCO Conolon, maker of the first hollow 'glass rods, later sold to Garcia, and  Harnell and shortly afterwards,  several of the key Conolon employees left NARMCO to start their own company building rods under the name Sillaflex which was later sold to Browning. Other notable early rod makers were Phillipson,  J.K.Fisher (also as "3 Jays"), St Croix and Wright & McGill (later as Eagle Claw) (the fish hook company bought the Granger bamboo rod  company). Fenwick started '52 using Grizzly blanks and later absorbed Grizzly (and owner Don Green who later started Sage) By the mid '50s there were a couple dozen manufactures and the process well enough know that there weren't any really bad rods, although Bill Phillipson, John Harrington (Harnell) and Joe Fisher stand out as the better designers, I think. On the W&M (Eagle Claw) rods I like the metal ferruled  brown rods that I've used, but I have no use for of the yellow glass to glass W&M/Eagle Claw or any butt over tip rod. Butt over tip ferrules were a cheap way to imitate Fenwick's patented tip over butt and I've never seen one that fitted properly. The Berkeley Parametrics  have a following, but I only know about  them from reading. Abercrombie & Fitch as well as all the early (pre-1974?) Orvis 'glass fly rods were made by Phillipson, and they all look like Phillipsons. I believe Shakespeare  supplied the first run or two of Orvis graphite rods and possibly helped them set up their own  plastic rod shop. 

Although I started with and used  9' fiberglass for several years, today I try to keep the 'glass to less than 8'6",  probably at 8' I like carbon and 'glass about equally, but getting shorter than that carbon becomes too stiff and taking 'glass longer than 8' it starts getting tiresomely heavy. My favorite 'glass rods are 7'6"-8'3". But that's bound be different wit every user.

On the metal ferrules, I recommend cleaning them with Q-tips and solvent like mineral spirits or isopropyl before fully assembling them, to prevent sticking them. And I recommend not to ever twist a metal ferrule during the assembly or disassembly to prevent damage, straight in and straight out.  If kept very clean, I don't think metal ferrules need or benefit from any lubricant. Actually I use isopropyl to clean the entire rod except the cork, Soft Scrub on a soft rag will clean cork quickly. I like to use MinWax Finishing Wax on the cork after cleaning. Other people would say to leave the "patina" on the cork.

Should you really want to research and collect, or find and resale old rods, fiberglassflyrodders.com is the place to find all the 'glass info from real experts and collectors. And clasicflyrodforum.com is the place to learn about bamboo from experts. Keys for ID are reel seats, winding checks, and ferrules as many companies used in-house hardware. 

[fishinwrench]

I basically hate glass flyrods, but if I could find an old brown 8'6" Fenwick 6wt. I would have to buy it.   

That's what my first SERIOUS flyrod was, and it was a sweetheart.   Sold it (along with reel & line) for 40.00 when I was trying to raise money for my first truck.  Stupid!  

[tjm]

"Sweetheart" was model name for one grade of Wright & McGill rods back when, and they may still use it. But the FF856 rods are on eBay almost all the time, usually sell between $75-175 depending on condition and who is watching, with the ones in need of repair at ~$40. But, the recent USPS change in shipping rates took average postage on two piece rods from ~$15 up to ~$40 plus insurance. And be sure to ask the seller to ship in PVC pipe because the plastic storage tubes are fragile as egg shells. I've received three crushed Cortland rods and am still looking for one like I had way back when.

[laker67]

I love all the knowledge you guys have!  Do you ever go fishing?  This has to take a lot of your time

Sandy